Comcast Asks for Approval of Transfers With Charter

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp. asked for U.S. approval
to shed 3.9 million customers and transfer cable systems to
Charter Communications Inc. as it seeks regulatory clearance of
its $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc.

Comcast and Charter in a filing today told the Federal
Communications Commission the transfers will benefit the public.

The arrangement could help Philadelphia-based Comcast, the
largest U.S. cable company, appease critics of its proposed
takeover of No. 2 Time Warner Cable by reducing the combined
company’s market share to less than 30 percent.

Comcast has touted the deal with Charter as a concession to
regulators who will vet its Time Warner Cable acquisition.
Critics, including U.S. Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota
Democrat, have said that Comcast will be too large, have too
much power and try to raise prices for consumers.

The deals need approval from the FCC, which assesses
whether the public interest is served, and from the Justice
Department, which asks whether deals harm competition.

Charter will be acquiring 1.4 million customers and a 33
percent ownership stake in a new, publicly traded independent
cable company with 2.5 million subscribers, Justin Venech, a
Charter spokesman, said in an e-mail.

Comcast will acquire Charter systems in New York, Los
Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, all cities where it also
will acquire Time Warner Cable systems, according to the filing.
The changes won’t add to Comcast’s market power in program
buying, the filing said.

After the transactions, Comcast will have a presence in 16
of the top 20 media markets, and will serve less than 29 percent
of U.S. pay-TV customers, according to the filing.

Comcast is to transfer nine local cable networks to
Charter, including five in Ohio, according to the filing.
Comcast is to receive three “small local networks” from
Charter, the companies said.